I predict......end actions will be a christmas present.

Oh how I would LOVE to see that feature added. It would make DVDA jump leaps and bounds over its present state!

Well, I couldn't wait any longer so I now have another vendor's video suite that supports 'em and multiple ac3 audio [there was a Sep 30 intro price deadline]; I now need to see how well everything meshes; can I port files between the different products that I now have from six different vendors? It would be nice to originate a dvd layout with DVDA since its interface is fast and then polish it with another product that has more functions--probably not a possibility.

Gold,

You made a good choice. Adobe (is it safe to assume you bought the Digiital Video Collection?) has put together a very good digital video package and has done so at a good price. I wish Sony would do the same (for example, including Noise Reduction as STANDARD with Sound Forge and Vegas). Adobe's Audition (which you now have, I believe) includes noise reduction at no extra cost.

Your biggest disappointment, however, may come when you realize that the AC3 encoding feature that comes with the collection is only good for several tries. Then, you have to buy an additional program from one of Adobe's partners (about $300 I think). VERY sneaky and misleading to customers! At least when you buy Vegas + DVD you do get an unlimited version of AC3 encoding. Adobe also lost my patronage when they offered the Video Collection for $799 to NEW users and EXISTING users. I felt they should have given those of who already owned previous versions a better price. Sonic Foundry was always good in that respect (they just don't have the same 'package deals' that would entice a number of users to buy).

So, there is no perfect package ... yet. Sony has a chance to beat Adobe at their own game if they would just do some creative thinking and put together a package at an unbeatable price. I'm still waiting for that ...

As to your question about integration between the programs? Well, the Adobe apps will work well with each other and the SOFO apps likewise. You will be able to launch one app from within another. You won't be able to do this quite so seamlessly between the Adobe and SOFO programs. They WILL all work as advertised and there is no compatibility problems that I know of ... you just might have to take an extra step or two when switching to the competitor's program. Not a big deal (I do it all the time).

Jake

Jake,
Yes you are correct. I don't want to say much about other vendor's products on the Sony Forum; but, I will say that I am very excited about the abiility to do multilingual and director's commentary audio tracks and menus and to have control over end actions. Reading the capablilities in the documentation has made me feel like a child on Christmas morning. Sony really needs to make an announcement about the future enhancement and projected life span of the existing SoFo product lines. My own crystal ball says that Vegas and DVDA will be discontinued and replaced by a new package designed from the ground up (using the engines and modules from the previous offerings) that will address the limitations of the current package. Microsoft does this all the time with new versions of windows. Its hard to argue with their success. P.S. I didn't see anything about an expiration on the AC3; I'll check. Also the Paint program is separate and I did take advantage of a really low upgrade price on it.
Gold

Gold,

The limitation on the AC3 encoder is the only thing , that I know of, that sours the Video Collection. If the paint program you mentioned is Photoshop, then you already have the best in its class.

I hope your crystal ball is wrong because Sony has some great stuff to work with. But they have been known to make bonehead moves before!

Good luck and have fun with all the new 'toys' (even if you use them to earn a living, they are still fun to work with).

Jake

Jake,
Once again you are correct; the only other limitation is tha they only work under XP--I have 10 user licenses on all versions through the developer subscription so it was not a problem to upgrade the system from 2000 to XP, but I really like 2000 better. It's interesting that the package has a flyer advertising plug-in packages from the "Foundry" based in London's Soho [the names are so similar that it threw me for a moment]. Have yet to find any mention of expiration of AC3; still looking.
Gold

Gold,

For your sake, I hope I am wrong (I wish I had a nickel for each time I was)!

There were a number of discussions about this on the Adobe Premiere or Premiere Pro forums. Do a search there for AC3 or AC-3.

Jake

Jake,
I found a thread on the Adobe forum that you were quite active in discussing the encoder. I'm wondering if this was a preannounced additional cost that they did away with before the final package was released. After seeing how much comparison you guys did between Vegas/DVA and Premiere Pro/Encore on the Adobe page, maybe its o.k. to discuss other vendor's products on user forums. I still haven't had time to experiment with the new package, yet. Videos are only a minor part of my work for presentation of research results; so I haven't had time to get to the hands-on stage of the learning curve, yet, I ahould know for sure then.

Gold,

I don't know if you ever got the answer you were looking for but here is a snippet from the Adobe Premiere Pro forum regarding 5.1 and the additional encoder required:

"So if 5.1 DVD's are your target, you will have to purchase the SurCode plugin.

Mike Berry
Premiere Engineer (who wrote all the audio support "

I have to take Mr. Berry's word that he is indeed the Premiere audio guy. If anyone should know, it would be him.

Jake

Jake,
I still haven't tried to use it enough to see if I hit an obstacle; it appears from the documentation that encore only encodes stereo ac3 but can import and write 5.1. It appears that audition can encode 5.1 and could be imported. But I haven't experimented with any 5.1 yet. I've had too many other irons to remove from the fire first. I'll be back [quote stolen from gov. of CA?]. It could be that Vegas could be used to do the encoding of 5.1 and then it imported to encore therefore adding vegas to the suite. I'm personally thinking that there is no one shoe fits all DVD solution and that I will be using different packages at different times. I have a totally different package that came with one of my systems DPS reality card. Software Standards anyone?
thanks,
Gold

Gold,

Just bear in mind that your idea of encoding 5.1 in Vegas requires that you have Vegas + DVD (the encoder comes as part of the package deal not with Vegas alone). Now, if you already have Vegas + DVD then you are all set. If not? They get you one way or the other, don't they?

Jake

Jake,
I have Vegas+DVD. My thoughts are Vegas+DVD for fast turn around; Adobe for professional look. Both have redeeming qualities. Right tool for the job sort of thing. By the way Sony used to comment on every thread, haven't noticed this lately. Still haven't heard anything definitive on whether development is taking place on DVD-A, my original question. Only the shadow knows and he ain't talkin' it appears. They used to list a forum monitor for each forum; does this mean the forums are no longer monitored and we're basically on our on?
Gold

Gold,
Looking over in the Vegas forum it appears SonyEPM and SonyDennis are still around and that forum is being monitored so this one probably is also. However, they are doing top secret things and would have to shoot us if they told us.
encouraging development,
answering my own question,
Gold
Jake, Is talking to oneself in a forum a sign of lunacy? Gold

How do we know we are the sane ones? What if we just thought we were? Lunacy has always been one gray cell away from genius!

In a similar vein:
Just because you're paranoid does not mean no one is after you.

Jake,
I actually ran Encore; it didn't complain any about having to purchase a decoder--so I guess the one shipped is not time limited. I do hope they come out with bug fixes soon.
thanks for the sanity check,
Gold

Jake et al,
Revisiting this old thread and not lettin it RIP. Has anyone tried Sonic My DVD 5 (level 2-it has 3 levels); I was wondering if they combined the good point so Sonic DVDIT 2.5 and MyDVD 4.0. Can it do the end actions from 2.5 and the motion menus and backgrounds from 4? At only about $40 upgrade and now AC3 audio encoding I might want to revisit it. Still using DVD-A and Encore in addition to lots of other DVD packages; would be nice if one vendor put it all together.
thanks,
Gold

PC Magazine just raved about Sonic MyDVD 5, although I've soured on their reviews (they trashed Vegas 4.0).

They have three flavors available:

Sonic MyDVD 5 XP Only; $49.99 (upgrade $29.99)
Sonic MyDVD Deluxe 5 XP Only; $69.99 (upgrade $39.99)
Sonic MyDVD Studio Deluxe 5 XP Only; $99.99 (upgrade $59.99)

Only the last two have AC3 (I didn't realize that AC-3 is available until I read the last post).

I had problems with MyDVD 4 and quickly "upgraded" to MovieFactory, and then went all the way with DVDA. As was pointed out in a recent thread, none of these are really very good, including DVDA. I'm still finding myself using multiple products. DVD Lab looks interesting, as does this new offering. My strong desire is to stick with Sony since SoundForge, Vegas, VideoFactory (MovieBlast), and ACID are such great programs, and I would hope they could make DVDA great too. However, I'm totally puzzled by the long, long delay in addressing the very basic end action problem. It makes me believe (pure conjecture, of course) that all is not well in DVDA development land.

Here are the links to the two products mentioned above:

MyDVD 5

DVD-lab